Simulations Gone Wrong
by linen-and-curls
Summary: A Maximum Ride, Eragon crossover. Not as freaky as it sounds. Should include FAX, some onesided/crushing Erax, fights, fluff, and sarcastic humor to the point where you believe you may pass out. TEMP. HIATUS
1. Chapter 1

Story: The Hidden

Author: PoLkAdOtFeAtHeRs

Setting: Ellesmera, Du Weldenvarden

Time I Started Writing: 11:14 PM on Saturday, August 26, 2007

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It was stormy outside Eragon's tree house. Lightning illuminated the interior through the thin membranes that covered the door and window openings. It was restless sleeping for the dragon and Rider, thunder jarred them awake every boom.

_Saphira!_ Eragon said. _I can't sleep! _

_You aren't the only one, you know._ Saphira said derisively. _This thunder is bound to keep us all up, if it can bother you, Stone-ears!_

_Okay, I get it._ Eragon said. _However, we still can't sleep._

_Eragon! _Saphira cried suddenly.

_All right, sorry! I'll stop blathering about my needs._

_No! There's someone outside!_

_What? In this weather? Everyone's inside!_

_Maybe that's why,_ Saphira commented ominously

"I'm going to check it out," Eragon declared. "You had better not come, your wings might get caught."

**OUTSIDE**

Outside, a cloaked figure crouched on the ground, thin fingers searching the dirt frantically. The figure crawled hurriedly to another patch of dirt, and repeated, sifting the ground.

"Who are you? What are you doing?" Eragon called. The figure froze, cringing. Very, very slowly, it rose and faced him. It was a half an inch shorter than him and it's face was shadowed.

"Who are you?" he repeated. The figure still did not answer. Eragon had the feeling that its brain was working furiously, trying to decide whether to lie, tell the truth, or run. A flash of lightning illuminated them both. Seconds too late, the girl rose her arms to hide her face, but Eragon had seen her.

"What are you doing? You," he pointed a finger accusingly, "are _not_ an elf." She huffed. 

"Neither are _you_!"

"Not technically, but _I'm _allowed here."

"What makes you think I'm not?" she asked swiftly, hands on hips, weight resting on one foot, head cocked arrogantly.

"If you were, why would you be trying to hide?"

"Ah. Touché."

"Now, I'm going to ask again: who are you, and what are you doing?"

She opened her mouth to speak and was cut off:

"Keep in mind I'll know if you're lying."

"Fine!"

"What are you doing?" he asked again, confident he would get a proper response.

"Standing."

"Ah-_hem_."

"Er, righto, breathing?" No response. "Blinking?" Nothing. "Uh...getting wet."

"Let's try a different one, shall we? Who are you?"

"A girl?"

"I'm serious." She looked down, clearly thinking hard.

"I am...no one you know."

"Your name, then? So I can meet you properly." Again she bent her head. When she looked up, she held disappointment in her eyes.

"I've got nothing clever."

"Oh! I know! You could just _tell_ me, right out, who you are and what you're doing here!"

"Er, no, I'd rather not, thanks."

_Saphira,_ Eragon grumbled. _Will you help me? _Saphira mentally rolled her eyes and clambered clumsily from the tree house. As she entered the girl's line of view, her eyes widened.

"I seemed to have forgotten to mention something, haven't I?" Eragon asked innocently.

"N-nothing of great detail, I'm sure," she replied, voice quavering. Saphira ambled gracefully over and stood directly in front of the girl. A flash of lightning, a rush of rain, and a great boom of thunder scared her out of her trance and caused her to jump skittishly and fall on her backside.

"Oomph! I - er, meant to do..." she trailed off eyes widening. Flipping herself over, she began to crawl once again. Suddenly she plunged her right hand deep into the earth. How, Eragon knew not, but he called out once more, "What _are_ you doing?"

"Shut it, Yattermouth!" she called back. "Just..._watch_." The words were forced, as if she was exerting a lot of energy. They gathered around her, curious.

The girl tried fruitlessly to tug her hand out of the earth. "Damn." she muttered, inserting her left hand now. Bracing her feet, she pulled with all her strength. Whatever it was holding her in came loose, throwing her off balance and tossing her to the ground again. Frightened, she hurriedly checked her hands, which Saphira and Eragon could see were holding an oblong object. She whipped out a cloth and polished it carefully, then stuffed it in her rucksack. 

"Hey, what is that?"

"Please, use your brain and guess."

_What is it, Saphira?_ he asked.

_A dragon egg! _she responded, surprised.

"A dragon egg?"

"Mm-hmm." she said by way of affirmation.

"Really? A dragon egg?" he asked, eyes wide. She rolled her eyes, exasperated.

"No, it's a corncob! Of _course_ it's a dragon egg, I already covered this with you!"

"How did you find it?"

She twiddled her fingers in the air mysteriously. "Maaagic!"

"No, really," Eragon said, thinking she was joking.

"No, really, maaagic!" She waggled her fingers again.

"Magic?"

"No, maaagic." she waved her fingers again.

"Maaagic."

"Do the finger thing."

"Like - oh for goodness' sake! Just answer the question!"

"What were we talking about?" she asked. Eragon cried out.

"Okay, you," he pointed to her. "Are coming with us," he pointed to himself and Saphira. "And we are going to get some answers out of you."

_But first, tell us your name, or we'll have to probe your mind._ Saphira called.

The girl glared at them. "You _could_ have just let me be, saving your world and my world and your race and my family _all_ by my lonesome, but _no_, you have to come in and possibly ruin it all! It's Max. You're not getting any more than that." 

**K, so I, like, changed it around a **_**wee bit**_**…and yes, for those who read it, I have made this into a Maximum Ride, Eragon CROSSOVER. Because I'm jazzy like that…nah, really, I'm just clinically obsessed and see connections **_**everywhere**_**. Max used to be a random OC who I called Baina, but I reread it after writing it last year, with almost those exact quotes, and it just **_**screamed**_** Max…sooo, there you have it! Taadaa!**

**Don't be alarmed by Max's apparent **_**magic**_** – I'm sure I'm not the only one who hates it when she gets to suddenly become a Rider, or a witch, etc. IT SUCKS! But this is not going to be normal - at all. TRUST me. I will SHOCK YOU ALL! Bwah ha ha!**


	2. Chapter 2

Story: The Hidden

Story: Simulations Gone Wrong

Author: PoLkAdOtFeAtHeRs

Setting: Ellesmera, Du Weldenvarden/Creepy Vortex Thingy/The School

Time I Started Writing: 1:23 on Wednesday, March 19, 2008 (yea, I know, what a gap!)

What I'm Listening To: _Made of Glass _by Trapt (Trapt)

Hahaha!: Guess what? I'm the ONE, ONLY, and FIRST Maximum Ride/Eragon crossover! Wow!

Thanks To: **Beefcake the Mightly** for helping me out of a rut, therefore causing the more-speedy continuation of the story ((claps for Sarah!)), and to **Everyone Who Review'd/Alert'd/Fav'd** – you make my day'd(s)!

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Oromis was awake when they reached him. Not surprising, as the thunder was probably keeping _everyone_ awake. As usual, he was sitting impeccably straight, painting carefully on a canvas. He looked up expectantly. His brow furrowed a bit when he saw the girl – 'Max', apparently.

"Who is this you have brought to me?" He asked, despite his perfectly good knowledge of who she was and, inevitably, what she was trying to accomplish there.

Eragon raised an eyebrow at this question, but answered it nonetheless.

"Saphira and I found her near the base of our tree. She was searching the ground. We noticed that she was human –."

Max coughed. Eragon, Oromis, Saphira, and Glaedr all looked at her. She stared back innocently

"What? Please, do continue. I get a kick out of hearing other people's perspectives."

Eragon looked at her funny, but continued.

"We noticed that she was human, and so we began to interrogate her. She was not cooperative."

"Were you not?" Oromis asked her.

"I'm not, normally. It's this aversion I have to self-serving, arrogant busybodies. It's like a knee-jerk reaction, except, well, it never stops."

"Well, I think it's time that you cooperate. We can make things very bad for you," Oromis said, as Eragon looked slightly outraged.

"Oh _God_! You people! Can you come up with _nothing_ original?! 'Give us what we want or we'll cause you immense amounts of mental, physical, and emotional pain!' Torture! That's the best you can do! How about, 'Give us what we want or we'll find some way to make you insanely allergic to chocolate-chip cookies!' I mean, way more cruel!"

Oromis ignored her outburst, instead going straight into the heart of the matter. It was Q & A time for this Max. They were going to get to know her better than she even knew herself.

Oromis decided to start with the basics. "How did you get your name? What does it mean?"

She looked bemused, but intrigued all the same. "It's – I … I got my name because I'm the best. I'm the maximum. I'm not gloating or anything, I really am. And I basically always have been."

"What are you doing here? How did you get here?"

"Uh…well, I'm here because people put me here. And I got here because they put me here. Believe me, I don't want to be here as much as, possibly even more than, you don't want me to be here. I mean, _really_, where _is_ 'here'?" Max gestured wildly.

Oromis ignored her again. "You don't have a dragon, therefore you are not a Rider. But, you did use magic. And you're not an elf. What are you?"

"I'm human! Ish! What? Did you think there was something extraordinarily special about me? Well, all right. Do you wanna know something special about me? I can _fly_." Max mimed flapping movements with her hands.

"Sure," Eragon cut in. "Because we believe that. No person can fly, not without a dragon or something like that!"

"Well, I'd totally prove it, kemosabe, but I don't care to, and, consequentially, I appear to have been robbed of my flying appendages." Her hands rubbed her back longingly. "This _sucks_."

"'Kemosabe'?" Eragon asked.

"Loose term," said Max nonchalantly.

Oromis and Eragon looked at each other, communicating their thoughts on this anomaly of a girl.

_We need to figure out who and what she really is_, Oromis told Eragon. _If you can try to get her talking about her powers and herself, I can search in her brain for her past, and what she's keeping from us. She doesn't seem sophisticated enough to block me…_

_I can do that_, Eragon said confidently, turning to Max, who was scratching her arm. She looked at him and reared her head back, on side of her mouth quirking up in a grossed-out expression. Then she smiled at him in a way that gave him the willies.

"Are you done now? Ready to get your question on?" she asked snidely.

_I don't know half of what she just said, but sure?_ He thought, while he said out loud: "Yes."

"Great. Let's get down to business. If by business you mean me raising your blood pressure a couple of notches."

Eragon ignored her this time. "Who did you learn magic from? And where?"

"Dunno," Max said.

"What?!" Eragon squawked. That was just plain unheard of.

"Well, I don't actually have this _magic _that you speak of normally. This was basically a one-time deal."

"Then how did you get it?"

"Uh…kids with stethoscopes were playing God, I guess. Wanted to see how I'd react to memory suppressants, I suppose. Maybe that was where I got the magic, so that my 'memories' would be backed up. But then, I don't know what happened. But it changed, and I remembered, and the magic was lost. I think."

"You seem to have really thought this out," Eragon told her.

"Well, I am quite a smart cookie, so I can see where you'd get this assumption. But really, this isn't anything new, per se," Max told him solemnly.

Without warning, there was a great roar from all around them. Max perked her blonde head up, almost in recognition. Then things started to get really messed up.

In one second, there were five Saphiras, and in the next, they were all gone but the original.

Moments later, a tall, olive-skinned boy with long, dark hair appeared.

"Fa –!" Max cried out, stepping towards him with her arm outstretched. Before she could finish calling to him, he disappeared in a swarm of tiny, choppy, pixilated squares.

"Damn," she muttered, her hand falling to her side.

"Who was –?" Eragon started.

"LET HER GO!" The same voice that roared before interrupted him.

Max's head jerked upward again, as that was the general direction from which the sound was coming. Her mouth moved, forming a word, or a name. Or maybe, because Eragon was getting to know her a little better, maybe an expletive.

Squawking birds with snakes as wings fell from the sky in great numbers. Eragon and the others covered their heads with their arms as they were pummeled. He noticed Max had gone death-white, and her mouth was pursed into a thin, pale line. Her eyes were wide and showing lots of white. She looked like a terrified animal, but she was still stubborn and proud enough not to make a sound.

A huge wind swept across the plateau, and in its wake was a barren landscape, devoid of all chicken-snake creatures. Blinding white covered all places, and it was cold. It took Eragon a moment to realize that it was snow, because he had never seen it in such quantities, so suddenly, and without being supported by trees or something. Everyone's breath misted in the cold air. Then the wind backtracked, coming from the opposite direction, and they were standing in a hallway, but no hallway as Eragon had ever seen it before. The floor was white stone, but smoother, shinier. The walls around them were white as well, but nothing like any stone he'd ever seen before. It, too, was shiny. There were large windows on either side, covered by curtains.

The roar could be heard again, and in a rush of the same pixels that had swept the boy away, they were transported back to where they started. Or maybe the land just came back to them.

All of this happened in less than a minute, each change like a whirlwind, like a tornado or a violent storm, not caring if it whipped the poor souls caught in it every which way.

Eragon looked around him. Oromis' eyes were wide. No matter how long he had lived, and how long he lived after this, Eragon was sure that he had never and would never see anything like this before or again.

Another voice came from above, this one softer, less raging. And another followed. There was a conversation of gods going on above them, in the Heavens.

"Fang! I found the OFF button!"

"Well push it!" cried the voice they had now heard thrice.

"You can't!" another objected, this one deep and yet somewhat whiny all the same. "It'll mess everything up, the experiment, the data, everything!"

"Do you think we care?" said the second voice, dark and menacing.

"You could corrupt her stability!" a different one cried.

"I don't care!" cried Max, shouting to the sky. "Do it, Fang! I always bounce back! Besides, he's playing you! Do it, Nudge! Push the dam- dang button! Push it! Get me OUT!"

"Who are you talking to? Can they hear you?"

"They better," Max said quietly.

"Push it, Nudge," said the Fang voice, much more quietly. Then, in a whisper, which was somehow much, _much_ louder than when there was yelling, he said, "You'd better be right, Max, or I swear, I will be_ very _angry." It came from all around them, and Max slapped her left ear as if she'd been stung. Her mouth quirked up, and then quickly back down again.

"Push it!" she cried again.

There was a faint beep from the sky above them, to the left.

The winds came again, sweeping not just their surroundings, but _them_ off to the right. Except for Max, who went careening the other way, by some odd lawlessness of nature.

Eragon saw her twirling off, stuck in the gullies of wind, and without thinking, he lunged out and grabbed her hand and forearm.

Unfortunately, instead of dragging her off in _his_ direction, he had not counted on _her _wind being stronger. He was yanked after her.

Their surroundings became so dark, Eragon couldn't even see his own hand, let alone the girl attached to it. Then, small pinpricks of light showed up, only enough to illuminate general features of each other. Stars, he realized. Those small pricks of light are stars.

They were falling straight down, the wind from their fall billowing out clothes and making Max's hair fly upwards. Unexpectedly, with no warning, they were suddenly jerked up, as if they were flying straight up. This went on several more seconds, and they were shooting up at the speed of light – faster! The stars were blurs ages ago!

Then it was a direct collision, and in the second of impact, the stars all disappeared. Eragon felt a massive weight slam into his side, his hip, and judging from Max's whoosh of air, it hit her, too. They were catapulted off to the side, and they seemed to burst through a wall, or a screen, or something moderately solid. They crashed through and in.

Max rocked violently as her conscience slammed into her body, her eyes snapping open, her breathing fast and gasping. Her eyes shot to the left wall, where there was a great crash.

All the breath left her body.

Falling out of a man-shaped hole of destruction, was _Eragon_. Who wasn't _real_. She knew that, she had figured that out at some point during the simulation. She knew she had wings, and she knew she _didn't _have magic. Therefore, she also knew that he wasn't real.

But there he was, groaning in the rubble.

Her confusion was interrupted, as Fang blocked her view, tearing off suction cups left and right. They made slight _popping_ sounds as they were torn from her head, probably leaving circles pressed into her skin. But now wasn't really a time for her to bother with appearances. No, now was the time to make _yet another_ escape.

Fang's fingers were a little clumsy getting her arms out of their restraints. When they were free, she herself bent down to release her legs. She was only slightly better. Every lost second could count against them.

"Where are the others?" she gasped.

"Ig, Gazzy, and Angel are all in the cages. Nudge and I got out of the maze," Fang told her.

"Damn! They're still in the cages? Shoot!"

"We needed another fighter. Nudge and I can't break them out by ourselves. You know that."

"I know, I know! Let's go."

They were running out, full speed, ready to knock over anyone and everyone who got in their way, when Max caught the reflection of Eragon in the window. He looked terrified. His eyes were wide, he was dazed, and the whitecoats still conscious were looking at him with the kind of interest that only ended badly.

Max made a snap decision, and as she turned around to shoot back to Eragon, Fang groaned. He knew.

She flitted back, and as Eragon's eyes tracked her, she slammed her fist into the eye of the whitecoat who was starting toward the dazed man. Then she turned around, sticking her foot out, and smashed it into the whitecoat's legs, throwing him to the ground.

"Lesson," she told him. "Don't make your experiments stronger than you." Then she hefted Eragon out of his disaster zone, supporting him by his arms.

"Can you walk?" she asked.

"I don't know…," he mumbled.

"Well, you've gotta try, otherwise you'll be my human shield, and that will definitely hurt."

Eragon walked. He still held on to Max's hand, because he stumbled, but she was strong enough to support him every time. They ran down the hall, Max and Eragon bringing up the rear.

Eragon was completely disoriented, but these kids seemed to know exactly where they were and where they were going. They rounded corners like lightning, and ran right into people who looked like they might stop them, knocking them straight to the ground, sometimes leading with fists.

They reached a darkened room, full of small to medium sized cages, and Max let go of Eragon's hand. She grabbed some sort of pole, or stick, and as she turned to one of the cages, she swung it in a clockwise arc, gathering momentum. A foot away from the lock that glinted in the moonlight, her face grew hard and she smashed down on it with all her strength. There was a crash, and it broke right off. She thrust her hand in while tossing the pole off to the other boy – Fang – who mimicked her, freeing a small girl with blonde hair. Out of the cage climbed a very tall boy with white-blonde hair. His eyes didn't focus on anyone or anything, but he walked to the middle cage, the one still unlocked. He lifted up his hand into the air, and waited as Max scrambled about the room.

"I'm looking, Iggy! I'm looking! Where'd they put it?"

"Southwest," he answered her.

She rummaged in that direction, coming up with a thin packet. One that Eragon thought he might finally recognize.

"Idiots," she laughed quietly as she tossed the packet to Iggy. "You'd think they'd learn not to keep that _with_ us."

Eragon was right – the packet held lock picks, and the last cage was open in under a minute. Out climbed a boy over half Eragon's height, with blonde hair and wide blue eyes.

"Who's that?" he asked, indicating Eragon.

"Not right now, Gasser. Let's go," Max said, avoiding answering. "It's time to blow this joint!"

**Gah, I could totally continue this – but then the story would be **_**over**_**sooner****! And we don't want THAT! No! So, in the next chapter they break out AND tackle the Eragon-no-fly-fly issue! Hurrah!**

**Please review! The reviews for last chapter made me sooo happy! And thanks to all who FAV'D! YOU ROCK'd MY SHOE'dS!!**

**BTW, this is 4 pages to last chapter's 2. DO I ROCK OR WHAT? L.O.L. **


	3. Chapter 3

Story: Simulations Gone Wrong

Author: PoLkAdOtFeAtHeRs

Setting: The School/The Canyon/The Cave

Time I Started Writing: 8:53 PM on Sunday, April 6, 2008

What I'm Listening To: _Around the World (La la la la la) _by ATC (Planet Bop)

Hahaha!: Guess what? I'm the ONE, ONLY, and FIRST Maximum Ride/Eragon crossover! Wow!

Thanks to: Ye who reviewed! Thank you sooo much!

Whoops, I Forgot: Yea, sorry folks: my disclaimers. Here goes it:

Chapter One Disclaimer: Last Halloween my imaginary/invisible friend and I dressed up as James Patterson _and _Christopher Paolini! Unfortunately, when I went to the trademark people, they didn't buy it.

Chapter Two Disclaimer: I do own all the freaky simulation freakiness. – I do NOT own the characters.

Chapter Three Disclaimer: Ooh! I own dialogue! YES, the dialogue, 'tis mine! I like to think I write great Max lines ;) Love me, people. Looove me. (I don't own the people who say them)

**Mongo ****Especial Thanks To:**

**liveurlifexx33****:** for giving me the most superfantabulous review. Not ONLY did she call me the QUEEN or something along those lines, she used some old words/phrases, I rendered her SPEECHLESS _AND _she threatened to hurt me! That's, like, the best part! If people threaten you, it's like, RACECAR, they care enough about what I'm doing to take the time to even think about hunt me down and torture me into cranking out more! Woohoo! Racecar!

**Beefcake the Mightly:** As always, for sque-ing in all the right places. O (Ahem. That is me 'raising the roof' to you)(if you add one more -thing on either side, it looks like a bat…hahaha!)

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Eragon had learned while being held in the prison in Gil'ead to pay attention to the way people acted around each other. Like the Shade and the prison guard. So he noticed the ease with which Max communicated with Fang, and vice versa. And through his muddled mind, Eragon also saw how the small girl – Angel – limped as she approached Max.

Max noticed as well. She shot a calculating brown eye toward where Eragon assumed the child's wound must be, and then flickered her eyes up to Fang. In that in instant, he felt as if 1,000 words were conveyed between the two, and he didn't hear any of them. But some sort of consensus was reached, and Max moved aside and behind Angel, lifting her by the armpits. With a great heave, that somehow looked as simple as lifting a fork, she threw her. _Straight out the window!_

Eragon nearly died then and there. To see that child plummeting from the window was death to his heart. Already he was dazed and confused by this strange place. He reached out his hand as if it would somehow save the girl. Only to be shocked beyond anything he could have expected.

He saw the girl. He saw Angel, and not as he thought he might if ever (a.k.a. 2-D).

She was _flying_.

As he stood gaping at the window, the same procedure was enacted on first 'Gasser', then the black skinned girl, then the tall blond boy – 'Iggy' (who simply threw himself bodily from the window), and then it was only himself, Max, and Fang.

"You go," she told him, panting slightly. Her eyes were wide and frantic.

"No," he deadpanned. His face was smooth, besides his clenched jaw.

"You have to!" she said. "They need some sort of fighter. And we can't take him without my speed. You know that. I'll meet you at the place." Eragon knew he was the 'him' she spoke of, but he assumed this 'place' they were supposedly headed to was not vague to deceive him, but rather anyone who might wish them harm.

Fang stared at Max for several _agonizingly _long moments, before nodding curtly and launching himself out the window like he did it every day.

Max took in a great breath of air.

"This should be easier because I don't have to run…," she said quietly to herself. "So we can gain the speed faster. Oh, this'll be hell on my wings. Damn it." She lifted her head to pierce Eragon with her eyes.

"You're going to have to hold on tight. You can't let go, you can't scream, and you can't squirm. We will be going fast, but only for a second. And then you're going to have to run. Believe me, you are going to have to run for your simulated life. I could sit here for years and tell you terrifying stories of the things that will catch you if you don't run fast enough, long enough, and what they'd do to you. But that would defeat the purpose, so we will be leaving now. Hold on tight."

At that she stepped forward and embraced him in a grip of death. Despite that, he was lucid enough to realize that a _stunning_ (though, he admitted to himself, she still didn't out-stun Arya) lady was holding him quite so tight to her person.

Of course, all hormonal thoughts went out the _proverbial_ window (haha, literally _and _figuratively) when his body was thrown out the _real_ window.

They plummeted quickly, before he could hear a large _snapping_ sound and they were jerked upwards, quite like they were in the dark vortex.

Max cried out into his ear - a piercing sound - and her face grew immediately hot against his cheek. There was a soft whimper, and then he could feel her jaw tighten and her body tense as they were propelled forward. In a flash of even greater heat, they shot forward at an alarming rate.

All too quickly, it was over, and they were crash-landing in pine needles on the other side of a fence.

Without giving him time to recuperate or even catch his breath, Max grabbed his elbow and tugged him impatiently to his feet. He stumbled, but caught his balance.

"Come on now, think 'Speedy Gonzales'!" she urged him.

"Huh?"

"Run, gosh darn it!" Max hissed at him before dragging him after her.

The pace started off brisk to begin with, but she just kept pushing it higher on the scale. Before long they were flat-out sprinting through the somewhat dense foliage. Eragon found himself heaving for breath, while Max was only slightly winded.

In the far distance they heard a dog bark.

"Oh no!" Max cried, and pushed him faster. "I can't outrun dogs!" she panted. "Go, go, go!"

His entire body shuddering, Eragon pushed himself and ran faster and longer than he had ever before.

He bent his head down, now confident that nothing would be smacking him in the face, and concentrated on placing his feet in such positions as that he would not puncture them. It was then that he saw that Max had _no_ shoes on, and was running in such a way that indicated to him that she was too busy running to survive to care about where her feet landed. Branches grabbed at her grimy clothing, so different from what he had met her in. There was a scratch on her forehead that was bleeding, and her feet had indents and blood where stones and branches had landed wrong.

Now, Eragon thought himself to be a pretty chivalrous man. So when he saw that this girl not only freed him, but also was saving his butt more than twice over without any complaint for herself and her own comfort, it really irked him. He had no business complaining and nitpicking. Especially when a girl was doing the exact same thing and showing no complaint. Arya would have hit him for it, but he felt that he could not permit himself to be outdone by a girl – and it was even worse she was so young.

He gritted his teeth and sped up.

"Up ahead," she wheezed back to him. "There's a small river. We're going to run through that for a while, 'til we get to the canyon. And then I'm going to jump, and you'll be jumping with me, and we'll be hoping for the best."

"You're going to throw us off a cliff?!" he yelled. Or rather, he tried, but it came out more like "Guh!" He hoped he got the meaning across.

"Quit being –," she paused as she leapt over a fallen log. "A wuss! Suck it up, be a man!"

Eragon grumbled in his head though the gasps for air that seemed to permeate his entire being, but 'sucked it up' and 'was a man.'

Max was right, and she led them true to a river that was somewhat shallow but very wide. Instead of crossing, she turned and followed it downstream.

"Why?" Eragon gasped out.

"Loose our scent," she responded in short bursts. Eragon may have nodded, but it was lost in the pumping of his body as he ran. The sticks and stones at the bottom of the river were digging even more mercilessly into his feet, through the thin moccasin-like shoes he was wearing.

The wicked cold water soothed and numbed his feet, but it held its own sharp pain. His feet splashed loudly through the rivulets, but Max was lithe on her own feet and only made little splishes as she ran on her toes. Eragon watched as she was carried faster, more quietly, and with less impact on her knees. Eragon thought he might have tried it, were his legs not about to pass out anyway.

He blocked out most of their fleeing after that, hoping to save himself the mental trauma of pushing his body far beyond the threshold it was used to. However, he was at full attention when they reached their dead end.

They burst out into a clearing, having abandoned their river path long before. It was covered with hard packed dirt, and lots of dead wood. And at the edge, there was a huge, vertical-drop cliff, just waiting for them.

Another dog barked behind them, and was joined by the braying of its fellows. They ran to the very edge of the cliff and skidded to a stop. Eragon's clumsy halt caused him to almost run into Max and push them both over, and when he did stop running, all his leg muscles twitched erratically.

Max peered down the canyon, judging its updrafts and depth, Eragon supposed. Whatever she gauged from her peering, it caused her to backpedal, dragging him with her (his legs nearly collapsed), to the edge of the clearing.

"Okay, here's what I need you to do: I will fly up above you, and you need to grab onto my hands, and I'll start flying to the edge, and I need you to run with me. I can't lift your weight and mine by myself right now. We're going to jump, and I'm going to fly us over to the other side."

Eragon allowed himself one long glance at the other edge, which seemed like miles away. He gulped, and nodded.

Max nodded back to him, and took a running leap into the air, snapping out her wings – her _wings_. How unnatural, Eragon thought to himself in a spastic frenzy of disjointed thought. She flapped her _wings_ back around to him and reached her hands down. He stared at them for a moment, before remembering what he was supposed to do. He grabbed them, and they readjusted to get better purchase and grip. She nodded down to him once, then fixed her gaze forward with an air of the stubborn need to survive. With a huge, deep breath, she propelled herself forward. Eragon took his cue and ran along beneath her.

His body hesitated as he reached the edge, survival instincts going into code red, halting his body even though his brain wanted to go forward (well, not entirely, but there you go).

But Max's powerful wings dragged him forward, and he felt them both dip as his feet left their solid ground.

He cried out in fear: this was it! There was only air above him, a canyon floor far beneath him, and no hope of survival in between.

**Yes, I am sorry. I am a HORRIBLÉ person. You may commence ranting. But REALLY! I haven't done a solid cliffy (omg, haha, get it? Cuz they just went off a – haha!) in sooo long. It feels sorta kinda invigorating. But ANYWAY. So, yea. I apologize. Can't wait for your reviews!**

**. . . . . . . . . . . . ahem. The above was a not-so-subtle hint.**

**HINT!**

**.L.O.V.E.,**

**.N.I.O.B.E.**


	4. Chapter 4

Story: Simulations Gone Wrong

Author: PoLkAdOtFeAtHeRs

Setting: The Canyon/The Random Forest Area/The Lake/The Cave

Time I Started Writing: 1:10 on Monday, May 26, 2008

What I'm Listening To: _Cold Flame_, Delirium

Thanks to: Ye who reviewed! You make my day shiny and … shiny!

Chapter Four Disclaimer: I thought that maybe, if I backed off a bit, James Patterson and Christopher Paolini would possibly just _give_ me the rights to Maximum Ride and Eragon…so far, we're still at a stalemate. I also don't own World of Warcraft, or Speedy Gonzalas from the last chapter, or any other things I mentioned that I don't own.

**Mongo Especial Thanks x2 To:**

**liveurlifexx33:** for threatening me some more, and who got me to type this up faster...unfortunately, though this has been finished for a while, I haven't been able to post it up due to school and a full schedule...but HOORAY! Here you go, Amanda! Ha, now you HAVE to update your story! FOILED!

Also for totally making me laugh with her scary insane randomness, which seems to top mine, although she claims otherwise…in any event, I do always have fun writing reviews for her story. Bleh! It's awesome! YOU MUST UPDATE, DO YOU HEAR ME! HOW MANY TIMES TO I HAVE TO ESPLAIN THAT IT IS CRITICALLY VITAL TO MY SURVIVAL?? …That, and Peppy, the cheerleader, who cheers me on. GO PEPPY! But YOU, Amanda…you. You make me break out in a bout of malicious acne! SHAME TO YOU!

**Beefcake the Mightly:** there really isn't any story that I have that doesn't have invisible MONGO ESPECIAL THANKS TO: you. Duh. Because it's SARAH! Also to you because you coerced me into writing one of the scenes down there…hope you enjoy!

XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXX

Eragon's short scream took with it what was left of the air he held in his lungs. He was now operating on the basic survival mode, and his most important priorities were a) breathe and b) stop falling.

Max's wings were trying to pump upwards, but all she was succeeding in doing was coasting towards the other side on strong updrafts. The unfortunate part was that her coasting did not prevent them from going down. Even if they did make it to the other side, they would have to climb up the sheer face of the cliff, something that neither of them had the energy to do.

Also, if they were stranded on the face of the cliff, the Flyboys might just decide to cut their losses with little old Defiant, Uncooperative them, and shoot them.

All these thoughts were running through his head when he felt strong hands grasp his feet and push them upward. He looked down, and there, flying upside down, was Fang. He had this sort of smug, slash irritated look on his face. Then he looked up, to see Max almost pointedly looking straight ahead. From what he could see, her jaw was set and her eyebrows were drawn.

They landed on the other side, Max and Fang's wings flapping in an odd sort of tandem.

"There we go," said Max, still avoiding looking at Fang.

"You're welcome," Fang said.

"Why should I be thanking you?" Max said, turning to fix him with her glare. "Who's watching over the rest of the flock? Hm? What if the cave's been compromised? What if we get back, and they're gone!"

"I couldn't leave you alone! You were hurt and carrying _him_ and had just spend almost five days in simulations, not using your muscles and you could've –."

"I would have been fine! I would have hit a draft, or we would climb up the side, or we'd have hidden somewhere! I would have pulled through! It's the flock that needs looking after, not – five days?"

"Five _days_. Do you have any idea how _scared_ we were for you? How upset Angel was, because she couldn't get thoughts off the whitecoats about how you were? How hopeless Gazzy was? He thought you were dead."

"But I didn't -."

"I know, Max. You didn't know, you didn't think. That's the problem. You mean more to us than I think you realize."

"Er, sorry to interrupt, but I believe now would be a good time to keep moving," Eragon said, his gaze fixed on the nearing lights from the Flyboys eyes.

"Now look what you've -," Max started.

"This is what you get for -," Fang said at the same time.

"Move!" Eragon interrupted them both. They each shot him a glare: Max's full of embers and death wishes, Fang's cool and icy. Then they turned their backs on him and scampered up the hill. Eragon stood bewildered where he was for a moment, then hastened to follow them, his legs shaking violently. His knees buckled once or twice. His breathing was still ragged and irregular.

Red sighting lights danced on the rough hill before him, struggling to find their marks. Eragon had no idea what they were, but he was fortunate enough to realize their killing potential. He would not have made it, had Max not glanced behind her, seen his danger, and dragged him face first onto the other side.

Eragon stumbled upright again, sputtering dirt and dead grass, and started after the two teenagers again.

The rest was a blur. Eragon's mind had shut down, and the surroundings looked vaguely all the same. He felt empty without Saphira's comforting presence. The night was deeper than when he had left, oh so long ago, flying from a fourth floor window.

Eragon didn't realize the scenery had changed significantly until he stumbled into water and got his pants wet. The cool, silky stroke of the lake's waters was soothing, and somewhat invigorating.

"How are we going to get up?" Max asked Fang.

"You fly up and I'll stay with him. You can send Iggy down and we'll fly him up together."

"No, you go up. Iggy and I can do it," Max protested.

Fang raised a skeptical eyebrow at her.

"What? I can do it."

"Sure, sure. But you're not going to."

Max glared at him and looked away.

"Well, go on," Fang told her. She shot another glare at him, snapped open her wings, and took off with a run. She flew straight up and then to the right, leaning gently. Eragon's eyes tracked her until she suddenly disappeared behind some shrubs and a solid wall of stone.

There was a chorus of happy sounding children, and then the very tall blonde boy appeared, free-falling and then snapping his own wings open.

Eragon was getting surprisingly cavalier about children free falling.

Fang, to his left, made soft clicking noises, and the blonde boy (_Iggy,_ Eragon remembered, _the boy's name was Iggy_.) angled himself to them.

He landed, and Fang and Iggy exchanged a weird sort of greeting: a gentle pound on the other's fist. Eragon was halfway delirious with exhaustion, and he dismissed it as irrelevant. His eyelids were drooping when the two boys came up on either side and grabbed him under each armpit. Then the boys jumped straight up into the air, lifting with them Eragon, suspended between them.

Eragon passed out.

When he woke up again, he was sprawled in a corner of a rough cave, a sharp rock digging into the side of his knee. Sitting up warily, he looked around, trying not to be dizzy. All of him hurt like hell.

In the opposing "corner" lay Max, squished in the center of a pile of children – the two small blonde ones, and the dark-haired, dark-skinned girl who reminded him of Ajihad and Nasuada. There were splotchy red spots on Max's cheeks, and she was otherwise very pale. She was very tense, and her eyes flickered erratically beneath her eyelids.

At the mouth of the cave sat Iggy, staring sightlessly into the night, and in the very back of the cave was Fang, who was watching him intently.

Eragon stared back, and the growing tension, becoming almost tangible, woke Max. She simply opened her eyes, and looked at Fang. It was as if she was already looking at him and had no trouble finding where he was. Then she turned her gaze to Eragon, who was now looking at Max again, and tried to communicate something with her eyes.

Eragon couldn't figure out what she was trying to get across, and it irked him because he had a feeling that Fang had gotten the message. Max tried Fang again, and he rose silently and went to Eragon's side.

"She wants us to quit being so annoying (to her anyways), and to help her get the kids off her."

--

It turned out that moving the kids without waking them up was futile. They were all sitting in a circle around a regular colored, somewhat tiny flame for security which Iggy lit with some magic sticks that spewed fire.

There was a somewhat long period of awkward silence. It got to be too much, as the children were all staring at Eragon.

"So…why are we hiding?" Eragon asked.

Max had a double take, and looked at him incredulously. "Have you just forgotten that whole 'setting the dogs on us thing?'"

"Well…no. But why are those people wanting to kill us?"

"I guess we sort of piss them off, a bit," Max said as if she had just realized it. The kids laughed. Eragon even squeezed out an ironic chuckle.

"So what do you do when you're not stepping on people's toes?" he asked.

"You know…the usual: survive; stay hidden; remember to eat and sleep; save the world."

"-of Warcraft," Fang muttered, just loud enough to be heard. Max, Iggy, Nudge and Gazzy all snickered.

"What?" Eragon asked, confused.

"Nevermind," said Iggy, smoothing out his smile.

"In any event," stated Max with authority, "we're on the run, and apparently we're dragging you along with us."

**TAA-DAA!!**

**And there you have it, folks; the next chapter. :-) HURRAH!**

**I know you're all so excited, so PLEASE review now! (Please?)**

**Merci, mis amis**


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